


Displaced

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: Gabriel in the MCU [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supernatural, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Episode: s05e19 Hammer of the Gods, Gabriel and Steve become friends, Gen, Parallel Universes, Tags to be added as necessary, ignores Supernatural canon after season 5
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-22 04:25:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2494379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being killed by Lucifer, Gabriel wakes up in another reality - one with alien invasions and superheroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Last Archangel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/888704) by [inukagome15](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inukagome15/pseuds/inukagome15). 



> This work probably owes a certain debt to _The Last Archangel_ by inukagome15 (possibly my favourite piece of fanfic on AO3), because if nothing else, without their story the awesomeness of combining Gabriel with the MCU never would have occurred to me. This is going to be quite a different story, but nonetheless, it owes a certain amount to _The Last Archangel_ (which you should all go read, if you haven't done so already).

**Displaced**  
 **Chapter One**

Gabriel woke slowly, drifting back to wakefulness in increments. He was lying somewhere warm, bright light shining against his closed eyelids. There was a lot of noise around him: voices speaking, a steady beeping, the clatter of wheels somewhere more distant. Bit by bit, Gabriel regained consciousness, until finally he opened his eyes to take a look at where he’d ended up after Lucifer had stabbed him.

Frankly, Gabriel was surprised he was even alive; he’d _felt_ his Grace explode inside his vessel, felt Grace escape his mouth and eyes in the light show that signified the death of an angel, felt nothing but an endless moment of agony; and yet here he was, aching and only half-healed, but alive.

And in a human hospital, apparently. Gabriel was lying on a hospital bed, connected to an IV and a bunch of different machines, with a bed-sheet and blanket draped over him. He looked around, taking in his surroundings, before frowning.

His current condition aside, something was wrong. Very wrong.

Carefully, mindful of the partially-healed wound in his depleted Grace – which was only at about half its usual strength – Gabriel reached out with his senses to the world around him. He should have been feeling all kinds of ambient energies, and hearing the voices of the Heavenly Host. But the world felt strangely dim, devoid of the energies he was used to, and the voices of the Host were silent. Gabriel searched for the bright energies of his brothers, and found nothing.

There should have been _something_ – even if most angels didn’t stop by Earth all that often, there should at least have been a few hundred or so angels carrying out their duties on Earth. Gabriel stretched his senses out further, taking the risk that one of his brothers might notice him, out to where he should feel the edge of Heaven –

– and found nothing.

It was a good thing that Gabriel was already lying down, because that discovery sent him reeling. Where Heaven should have been was an empty abyss, dark and devoid of …well, everything. It wasn’t just that Heaven was gone, either – from what he had sensed Gabriel knew, with crystal clarity, that Heaven had never even existed. Not here.

Gabriel was in another universe. One without angels, or Heaven.

Gabriel couldn’t feel the influence of the gods at work, either. Not only were there no angels, there were no gods – at least, no gods like the ones Gabriel was familiar with.

Gabriel was completely and utterly alone.

* * *

So, to sum up: Gabriel was stuck in another reality, all alone where there were no angels or gods, barely at half his usual power and unable to get home. Life was just peachy.

It took Gabriel a while to accept his current situation, pangs of loss and loneliness sweeping through him, but he had no other choice. Which left him considering what to do next.

Under ordinary circumstances Gabriel would have just snapped himself out of the hospital, but these weren’t normal circumstances: he was stuck on a parallel Earth, and still had a great half-healed wound in his Grace where Lucifer had stabbed him. So instead Gabriel snapped his fingers, and the wall-mounted television switched itself on.

Images of devastation met Gabriel’s eyes, and he wondered if there had been a terrorist attack. But then the camera zoomed in on a body that most definitely wasn’t human. Gabriel stiffened, and turned up the volume on the TV.

 _“…alien invasion_ ,” the news anchor was saying.

Gabriel tuned out for a second, because _what?_

When he tuned back in, the news anchor was discussing the group of heroes that had apparently been seen fighting during the invasion.

“ _Of course, we’re all familiar with Iron Man, but what about the others? According to a press release issued by Stark Industries last week, the heroes of the New York Invasion respond to the code-names of Hawkeye,”_ a muscular man with a bow and arrow flashed up on the screen, “ _Black Widow,_ ” a red-headed woman in black back-flipping over one of the aliens, “ _the Hulk,_ ” a giant green man, “ _Thor,”_ a muscular blonde man in armour with both archaic and unfamiliar elements to its design, “ _and of course, Captain America.”_

A man in a blue, white, and red outfit appeared on screen, his face obscured by the strange uniform he was wearing.

_“Now, since the invasion, everyone’s been wondering: is this guy the real deal? Stark Industries declined to–”_

Gabriel felt hysterical laughter bubbling up inside him. He’d never been much of a comic book reader, but even he recognised the Hulk and Captain America. Who didn’t?

Gabriel’s first thought was that this couldn’t be real, that this had to be a trick – but his senses told him otherwise. This world was as real as his own, despite apparently being a comic book come to life. And if Thor was any indication, there were gods here after all, even if they were different from the kinds of gods Gabriel was used to dealing with.

A blurry photograph flashed up in the TV screen, of a figure in armour sending a blast of energy from a staff, and Gabriel paid attention again as the news anchor rattled on about how the leader of the invasion had been identified as Loki, of extraterrestrial origin.

“Well,” Gabriel muttered. “Guess _that’s_ a name I should stop using.”

If this world already had a Loki – alien or not – it was probably a bad idea to risk being confused with him, especially if this other Loki had led an alien invasion. Gabriel might mess with people who deserved it, but the kind of loss and devastation depicted on the news channel was something else all together.

Gabriel shook his head. He had no idea what was going on or what he should do next, but he had a half-healed wound in his Grace that needed rest.

Turning the TV off with a snap of his fingers, Gabriel closed his eyes, and slipped into a meditative state that would allow him to heal better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

By the time Gabriel left his meditative state, it was very early the next morning, and Gabriel had decided what to do. There was no point in staying at the hospital – his Grace had healed the damage done to his vessel, which would raise all kinds of questions Gabriel didn’t want to answer, and the hospital probably wanted to know about details like the social security number he didn’t have, not to mention make him pay a stiff bill, Gabriel guessed.

So, snapping his hospital gown into something more presentable – tan pants, a t-shirt, and a casual brown jacket – Gabriel took flight from the hospital.

This was a mistake.

A second later Gabriel dropped screaming into empty space as the movements of his wings tore at the half-healed wound in his Grace. Gabriel hit the ground hard, but barely noticed, too busy gasping in pain.

“Okay,” he wheezed aloud, a hand instinctively clamped protectively over his abdomen, “that was a bad idea.”

“Sir, are you alright?” asked a concerned voice, and Gabriel blinked back the tears that had welled in his eyes to see a tall, muscular blonde man in khakis and a white t-shirt, looking down at Gabriel in concern. “I heard you scream,” the man added.

Gabriel closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. The worst of the pain was fading, now, leaving behind a strong ache that suggested that Gabriel had undone some of the good resting in hospital had done him.

“I’m fine,” said Gabriel, opening his eyes again, and gingerly sitting up, while the blonde man hovered anxiously. “I was injured a while ago, and I guess I just used the wrong muscles.” Gabriel winced theatrically. “Won’t do that again.”

Sympathetic understanding filled the other guy’s face.

“You want a hand up?” he offered, holding out a hand. Gabriel took it, and was carefully hauled to his feet.

“Thanks,” he told the other man. “Guess I need to be more careful, huh?”

“Guess so,” the other guy agreed. “I’m Steve,” he added, as an afterthought.

Gabriel hesitated for a moment, but given that he was in an alternate reality free of angels, he supposed there wasn’t much risk in giving out his real name. It wan’t like he had any other name to give, anyway.

“Gabriel,” he said at last. He glanced around, and realised that he was in Central Park, and that dawn was just peeking over the horizon.

“So, Steve, what are you doing out this early in the morning?” Gabriel asked, looking up at him.

“Went for a run,” Steve explained. “Thought it might clear my head.”

“Any luck with that?” Gabriel asked curiously. Steve shrugged.

“Well, I don’t know that it cleared my head, but I definitely feel better than I did before.”

“Good for you,” said Gabriel. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Steve, I should probably get going. Got a lot to do today.”

“Oh, sure,” said Steve, but his eyes were sad and lonely. Gabriel found that he could relate. “Well, I wouldn’t want to keep you.”

“I’m looking for an apartment today,” Gabriel explained, because the look in Steve’s eyes was getting to him. It was sad, really; he’d known Steve a few minutes, but the guy looks lonely, and all of a sudden Gabriel was having _feelings_. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I expect it’ll be a couple of days at least before I find a good one, so you know, better start early.”

“An apartment?” Steve perked up, for some reason. “There’s, uh, there’s an apartment for lease in my building. If you want I could show you there, see if the building manager will let you take a look.

“Yeah?” Gabriel considered the idea. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do, and he’d been serious about the apartment thing – he needed somewhere to stay for a while, let himself heal. “Where do you live?”

“Brooklyn,” Steve replied.

“Brooklyn? Sounds great,” Gabriel said, deliberately injecting some cheerfulness into his voice. “Lead the way, Steve.”

“Are you sure you’re up to walking to the subway?” Steve asked, brow furrowing. “With your injuries, I mean. I know it’s not exactly far away, but–”

“Relax,” said Gabriel dismissively. “I moved the wrong way, that was all. A bit of walking won’t do me any harm.”

“Alright, then.” Steve smiled, and the sad, lonely look receded a little. “Then let’s start walking, I guess.”

Gabriel fell into step beside him, and the two of them started to walk. Steve towered over Gabriel, but Gabriel didn’t much care. After all, outside of a vessel, Gabriel’s true form was approximately the size of Mercury. It was hard to develop a complex a about your vessel’s height when you were almost the closest thing there was to all-powerful, save for the Big Guy himself.

Gabriel faltered for a moment, as it occurred to him that in this reality, he really _might_ be the closest thing there was to all-powerful. He certainly hadn’t sensed anything on Earth as powerful as himself, even at half-power, and if this reality’s creator had left the building…

“You okay?” Steve asked. “You got a funny look on your face, for just a second.”

“Just had a weird thought, that’s all.” Gabriel quickly changed the subject. “So, tell me about yourself, Steve.”

Steve’s expression turned pensive.

“I’m not sure there’s really much to tell,” he said, a wary edge to his voice. Gabriel gave him a sharp look, wondering what Steve felt the need to hide.

“Why not? It’s not like you’re a serial killer or something, right?”

“What? No!” Steve protested, looking startled and knocked off-balance. “I mean – I was in the army, okay, and I haven’t got used to…” He shrugged helplessly. “Everything, I guess.” He gave Gabriel a look. “You thought I might be a serial killer?”

Steve sounded bewildered, and torn between indignation and hilarity.

Gabriel clapped him on the shoulder.

“Steve, I was kidding,” he explained slowly, raising his eyebrows.

Steve flushed.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I didn’t really think you were a serial killer, bud.”

“Sorry.” Steve looked embarrassed, but stiffened his shoulders like he was determined to go on anyway. “So, uh, what about you?”

“Me?” Gabriel considered the question, and decided to answer in half-truths. “I tend to travel a lot, wherever I can get work. I’ve decided to stay put for a while, though. Thus, the need for an apartment.”

It wasn’t a total lie: Gabriel _did_ tend to travel a lot, looking for work. It was just that ‘work,’ in this instance, meant delivering just desserts. Somehow, looking at Steve’s earnest face, Gabriel didn’t think he’d approve.

Whatever, Gabriel wasn’t planning on being a trickster again for a while anyway, not until his Grace was fully-healed.

Gabriel and Steve caught the subway, Gabriel snapping up a MetroCard to pay the fare when Steve’s back was turned.

It took about twenty minutes to get to Steve’s subway stop, and Gabriel chatted to Steve as they went. By the time they got to the right station, Gabriel knew that Steve had been back home from wherever he’d been serving a few months and wasn’t happy about it, that Steve was a fan of apple pie, and that he liked baseball, among other things.

Together the two of them walked some way before they reached Steve’s building. By this point dawn had well and truly broken, and the world was bathed in sunlight.

“So, you think the building manager’s likely to be awake yet?” Gabriel asked thoughtfully.

Steve looked sheepish.

“Probably not,” he admitted. “I didn’t stop to think how early it is.”

“So.” Gabriel rocked back on his heels. “What do you suggest we do next, comrade?”

Steve blinked at the term of address, but shrugged.

“Well, if you don’t mind, we could go up to my place, and play cards or something until the building manager’s likely to be up,” he offered.

“ _Steve_ ,” Gabriel said, pretending to be shocked. “You’re inviting me up to your apartment? I’m not that kind of girl.”

To his surprise Steve actually laughed.

“So you’re a bit of a clown, huh?” Steve asked, shaking his head. “You coming up, or what?”

“Sure,” Gabriel said, and so the two of them went up to Steve’s apartment. Gabriel looked around.

“Nice digs you’ve got here,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“It’s like walking into 1945 in here. Even got the wallpaper right. You a fan of retro?” Gabriel asked, peering at the wallpaper. It looked suspiciously new.

“Something like that,” said Steve, his voice constrained.

“Huh. Well, whoever did your decorating is either crazy-dedicated to the World War Two period, or seriously needs to update their sense of style,” Gabriel commented, turning back to look at Steve. He stuck his hands in his pockets. “So, what do you do for fun around here?”

Steve looked awkward.

“Well, I like to draw,” he began. “And I listen to the radio, sometimes.”

Gabriel waited for him to say something else. When that seemed to be all, he raised his eyebrows.

“What, you don’t even watch TV?” he asked. When Steve shook his head, Gabriel _tsk_ ed.

“ _Steve_. You don’t know what you’re missing!”

“I know exactly what I’m missing,” Steve retorted, too fast and too angry, before he pulled himself up short, and took a deep breath.

“Sorry,” he offered, a moment later.

“Want to explain what that was about?” Gabriel asked, settling himself comfortably on Steve’s old-fashioned couch.

“Not really.”

“Okay then. Before it gets any _more_ awkward in here, you said something about playing cards?” Gabriel looked at Steve expectantly.

Steve looked relieved that Gabriel wasn’t pushing the issue, but Gabriel figured it was part of the whole anguished-war-veteran thing Steve had going. It wasn’t up to him to sort out Steve’s issues, and he wasn’t about to try.

“Sure,” said Steve, “Just let me go get a pack of cards.” He paused, and added abruptly, “You know, you’re the first person who’s actually agreed to play cards with me since I was… since I got back. Everyone else just turned me down. So thanks.” Before Gabriel could respond, Steve left the room.

Gabriel tried to parse that, and failed. Playing cards wasn’t exactly the most riveting activity in the world, but you’d think someone among Steve’s friends would have agreed to play.

Then Gabriel remembered the lonely sadness that Steve seemed to carry with him like a shroud, and wondered if maybe that was the whole problem.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Gabriel and Steve played cards for a couple of hours, until it was late enough in the morning that the building manager was awake, before going to visit the guy to talk about the apartment available for lease. Gabriel was shown around the vacant apartment, and decided that it seemed as good a place as any to settle down, for now. He spent some time sorting things out, and had to snap up all the required paperwork, but in the end, he was the proud tenant of an apartment three doors down from Steve’s.

“Now all I need is furniture,” Gabriel said aloud, debating the pros and cons of just snapping furniture into existence, vs. actually going out and buying some. “Where do people buy furniture, anyway?”

 Living as a human was going to be an adventure, he could tell. Jury was still out on whether it was one he’d enjoy or not.

“Furniture stores,” said Steve, looking vaguely amused. “Want some company along?”

Well, that decided it. Buying furniture it was.

“You don’t have anything better to do than help a complete stranger go furniture shopping?” Gabriel asked.

The faint amusement faded from Steve’s face.

“Not really,” he said. “I’ve been helping with the clean-up effort, you know, since the invasion, but if you want the help, I can take a day off. Not like the work won’t still be there, tomorrow.” His smile returned, a little forced. “Besides, we’re going to be neighbours, so you’re not exactly a complete stranger, you know.”

“Okay then,” said Gabriel. “Let it not be said that I passed up the chance to get someone else to undertake the chore of picking out furniture for me.”

“Let me get the phone book, I’ll see if I can find a furniture store,” said Steve.

“See if they have an IKEA anywhere near here,” Gabriel called after him.

By the end of the day, Gabriel had all the furniture necessary for a bedroom and living room, a large rug that Steve said was hideous but which Gabriel kind of liked, a TV, and a lava lamp, because those were _groovy_. Gabriel told Steve as much, waggling his eyebrows, and Steve just grinned, and said that he had no idea what that meant, but Gabriel was probably wrong.

“You _need_ to update your cultural references,” Gabriel told him.

Steve’s smile was wry as he said, “People keep telling me that.”

Steve offered to loan Gabriel the use of his couch until Gabriel’s furniture was delivered the next morning, but Gabriel waved Steve off, assuring Steve that he’d be fine. Steve didn’t look convinced, but let the issue drop.

“Well, if you change your mind, you know where I live,” he said dryly. He hesitated, and added, “Thanks for letting me come with you today. I haven’t enjoyed myself like that for – for a while.”

“If picking out furniture is your idea of exciting, then you have me concerned,” said Gabriel, and Steve only laughed a little, and left him to it.

As soon as Steve was gone, Gabriel snapped up a bed and a TV, and sank onto the bed with a sigh. His Grace still ached, but there wasn’t much he could do about that.

Gabriel had been trying not to think about his situation all day, and hanging around with Steve had helped with that, but now that he was on his own, he found himself dwelling on the fact that he was here, stranded, injured and alone. Even after he’d left Heaven, the other angels had still been there, distantly, their voices audible to his senses. Now there was nothing but silence, stretching out to the edges of the universe. It left Gabriel feeling very lonely and alone.

The other thing Gabriel had been trying not to think about was what had happened with Lucifer. Intellectually, Gabriel had known that Lucifer wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he got in his older brother’s way; but there was a big difference between knowing that intellectually, and actually staring into Lucifer’s eyes as he dealt the death-blow. Gabriel was left feeling angry and devastated, somehow surprised by Lucifer’s actions, even though he shouldn’t have been. He’d seen it coming, so why did he still feel so betrayed?

He wondered how Castiel and the Winchesters were taking the news of his apparent death. Gabriel hadn’t given them much of a reason to mourn him, but he found himself hoping that they did, all the same. Especially little Castiel, even though Dad knew that Gabriel hadn’t exactly been a good brother to him, and hardly deserved a place in Castiel’s thoughts. Gabriel kind of regretted that, now. Castiel was a plucky little kid, his heart in the right place, which was more than you could say for most of Gabriel’s brothers. Castiel’s fierce integrity and broken faith – broken, bruised, but still enduring – had shone through even when he was at his lowest. It was Castiel, as much as those two yahoos Sam and Dean, who had convinced Gabriel to change his mind and join their side in the end.

And look where it had gotten him. Shanked in the stomach by dear old Lucy.

“No more heroics for me,” Gabriel muttered, knowing even as he said it that it was a lie. He’d spent centuries running, hiding from what he was and what it meant, and now that he was finally free of his brothers he found that hiding was the last thing he wanted to do. The angelic side of him had stood up, defied Lucifer for the sake of what was right, and it had felt _good_ (near-death experience notwithstanding). Gabriel didn’t want to fold it away and go back to being nothing more than a Trickster. Even if he was the only slice of his Father’s legacy existing in this reality, Gabriel found that he wanted to do better, to live up to what he was supposed to be. He just wasn’t sure _how_.

Not that it mattered, just yet – until Gabriel’s Grace had healed more, he was limited to minor miracles and nothing more. He could tweak reality in smallish ways, but the serious reality-bending powers were beyond him for the moment.

Making a face at that thought, Gabriel snapped up a lollipop and unwrapped it, sticking it in his mouth absently as he thought.

Still, there had to be something he could do, to make things a little better, something that was within the scope of his powers. Help with the aftermath of the invasion, maybe? It had been at least a couple of weeks since the aliens had invaded, apparently, but significant areas of the city were still rubble or too damaged for habitation. Gabriel could probably fix that, if he tried.

“It’s a start,” Gabriel murmured to himself around the lollipop, the sound of his own voice comforting in the absence of the usual background noise of the Heavenly Host. Nodding decisively to himself, Gabriel turned the TV on with a snap of his fingers, and settled down to watch whatever counted for good TV in this reality.

* * *

Gabriel’s furniture and other new possessions were delivered the next morning. There were little things missing, like a refrigerator or crockery, and Gabriel snapped them all into existence as they occurred to him. The use of his Grace tugged faintly on his half-healed wound, but not firmly enough for Gabriel to feel worried about it.

Changing his outfit with a snap of his fingers – Gabriel knew that going too long without changing your clothes raised human eyebrows – Gabriel wandered down the hall to knock on Steve’s door. A moment Steve opened it, looking surprised. He was wearing a similar outfit to yesterday, although today’s shirt had the phrase _NEW YORK CLEAN UP ARMY_ on it.

“Morning,” said Steve, his expression turned from surprised to pleased. “Your furniture been delivered yet?”

“That it has,” Gabriel confirmed. “So, what’s up? Got any plans for today?”

Steve glanced down at his shirt.

“Actually, I’m planning on helping with the clean-up effort,” he said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done. They think it’ll be months before everything’s back to normal. Maybe even years, considering how much of the city was destroyed.”

“What happened, exactly, anyway?” Gabriel asked curiously. “I was in hospital until a couple of days ago, and I didn’t exactly get regular news updates in there. I mean, I know there was an alien invasion led by an alien called Loki, and that the Avengers apparently saved us all, although no one seems to know how, but that’s about it.”

Steve grimaced.

“It was… it was pretty bad,” he said quietly. “Loki opened a portal in the sky that let an alien army through, and it took a while before the, uh, the Avengers worked out how to close the portal. The aliens all just… stopped, when the portal closed. Died, I guess. But by that time a lot of damage had already been done.”

Gabriel winced.

“Yeesh. Guess it’s a good thing we had the Avengers, huh?”

Steve gave a wry smile.

“Guess it is,” he admitted, looking faintly amused for some reason. Gabriel considered him for a moment, but dismissed Steve’s amusement. It probably didn’t mean anything.

“So, how does the clean-up thing work?” Gabriel asked. “Do people just show up, ready to help out? Is there a sign up process, or what?”

“Well, most people just show up, and one of the coordinators tells us what to do,” Steve said. He gave Gabriel a shrewd look. “Thinking of helping out?”

Gabriel opened his mouth, then closed it again. He hadn’t been – not the way that Steve was thinking, anyway – and yet: why not? It’d give him something to do, and hadn’t he been planning on fixing some of the damage done to the city anyway (albeit with Grace, rather than the old-fashioned way)? It wasn’t like the work would be difficult for him – not with angelic strength on his side. Worst case scenario, he’d find it a little boring.

“Oh, what the hell.” Gabriel shrugged his shoulders. “Might as well, right? Bring it on!”

Steve smiled, and Gabriel grinned back. He just hoped he didn’t regret this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Helping with the clean-up effort was less boring than Gabriel expected. Sure, the physical labour wasn’t exactly thrilling, or anything, but it was better than doing nothing. Thanks to Steve mentioning to the coordinator that Gabriel hadn’t long been out of hospital, the activities he was assigned to weren’t exactly onerous, either. But Gabriel got to meet people while he was working, chatting away as he went, which was more enjoyable than he expected. Sometimes he talked to Steve, whenever Steve was around; sometimes he talked to whatever other volunteer happened to be nearby at the time. Some of them only answered in monosyllables, too busy hauling stuff around to talk; but some of the volunteers were cheerfully social, and happy to go nattering on about whatever topic Gabriel happened to touch on.

There was a church across the street from where Gabriel was working. Most of the church had escaped the invasion unscathed, but one corner of the building had collapsed. The church had been cordoned off with long strips of tape, and signs put up saying that the site was unsafe.

Gabriel didn’t know how to feel about the sight. On the one hand, he felt strangely touched that even here, in a different universe, people were still building monuments to God; on the other, he felt angry over the fact that his Father hadn’t done anything, as far as he knew, to protect the people who still believed in him. He ignored the pangs of wistfulness at the reminder of the home he was currently separated from. Home wasn’t that great anyway, he told himself, but the sentiment rang false.

At the end of the day, Gabriel and Steve walked back to their apartment building.

“Hey,” Gabriel asked on impulse, unable to stand another night of silence, “what do you say you come over to my place later and we watch some TV together? It’s kind of lonesome on my own, you know? It’d be nice to hang out.”

“Sure,” said Steve. “When?”

Gabriel thought for a second.

“About six, maybe? There’s some stuff I’ve got to do, first.”

“Six sounds fine,” Steve responded. “It’ll give me a chance to change.” He gestured at his clothes, which were covered in dirt and dust from the rubble he’d been moving all day.

“Cool, I’ll see you then,” said Gabriel, and they parted ways.

As soon as he was alone, Gabriel snapped himself back to the church he’d been working opposite all day. Ignoring the signs, he ducked under the tape cordoning off the site, and walked up to the church. With a snap of his fingers, the doors swung open, so that Gabriel could walk inside.

Inside, Gabriel looked around. The church looked pretty much like every other old church he’d ever seen, except for the part where part of the ceiling had caved in, and an alien aircraft was lying amid the rubble. Gabriel _tsk_ ed, and rubbed his hands together.

“It’s a bit of a fixer-upper, but think of what it’ll look like once it’s done,” he said aloud. One snap of his fingers, and the alien aircraft was gone. Gabriel concentrated, visualising the church as whole and undamaged, and snapped his fingers a second time.

This time the tugging on his Grace was more noticeable, and he winced slightly, even as the church was restored to its former glory. Gabriel put a hand to his abdomen on reflex.

“Okay, so that’s about the limit of what I can do all at once,” he observed. “Noted.”

Instead of leaving, Gabriel walked up to the front of the church, and took a seat on the pew closest to the altar. Gabriel looked at his hands for a long moment, before raising his eyes to the ceiling.

“Hey, Dad,” he said aloud. “Let’s face it, you probably aren’t listening – you never seemed to be in the other hundred times I did this – so I’ll keep it short. I’m not sure what I’m doing here, or even how, but thanks, I guess, for making sure I didn’t die when Lucifer stabbed me. That was you, right, because I can’t see any other reason why I’d still be alive. I’m feeling a little less grateful for the relocation, but I guess you have your reasons. I hope so, anyway. Better not just be for the lulz. Anyway, I’m not really expecting anything, but if you could help out Castiel and those two lugheads of his with their quest to stop Armageddon, I’d be grateful. Let’s face it, those three need all the help they can get, and _I’m_ injured and stuck in a parallel universe, so. Just… make sure they have a chance, okay? That’s all I’m asking. Please.”

Gabriel rubbed a hand over his face, and wondered why he was even bothering with this – his Father, as far as he knew, had stopped listening to anyone a long time ago. But he had to try. Some lingering thread of faith compelled him to, even as the rest of him said that his effort at prayer was hopeless.

Sighing, Gabriel got to his feet.

He looked around the church one last time, and wondered how many other places of worship were in a similar condition. A faint smirk curved his lips.

He wondered how many miracles he could get done before six o’clock.

Smirk still on his face, Gabriel snapped himself out of there.

He had work to do.

* * *

At six o’clock Gabriel opened the door to his apartment at Steve’s knock.

“Hey, man,” he greeted him. “You want a beer or a soda or something?”

Gabriel had specially stocked the fridge and cupboards with actual food, just in case Steve dropped by to hang out. Not that there was anything wrong with the stuff he snapped up, or anything; the only thing was, it was all infused with Grace, and Gabriel wasn’t sure how a human from this universe would react to having Grace inside their body. It seemed best not to take the risk and stick to real food instead, at least where Steve was concerned.

“I’m good,” Steve said, walking into the apartment.

“Suit yourself.” Gabriel waved at the fridge. “You change your mind, there’s drinks in the fridge, plus snack food in the cupboard next to it.”

“Thanks,” said Steve, as Gabriel took a seat at one end of the couch that was set up in front of the TV.

“So, apparently there’s a _Doctor Who_ marathon on tonight,” Gabriel said, sprawling out on the couch. “You ever watched the alien in the big blue box?”

“What?” Steve looked confused.

“Guess that answers that question,” Gabriel said. “Come on, take a seat, unless you’re waiting for an engraved invitation or something.”

Steve sat at the other end of the couch.

“So, are you happy to watch _Doctor Who?_ ” Gabriel asked, reaching for the TV remote.

“Uh, I’m not sure what that is,” Steve admitted.

“It’s a show about an alien travelling through space and time in a British police phone box, saving worlds,” Gabriel explained. “First episode was back in the 60s, so it’s been running for a while now. They stopped making it for a few years, but back around 2005 they started making it again. At this point it’s kind of a British institution.”

“Really?” Steve asked, looking genuinely interested. “It can’t be that bad, if it’s been going for that long.”

“Then _Doctor Who_ it is,” Gabriel said cheerfully, and changed to the right channel.

It didn’t take much watching before the TV show reeled Steve in. Gabriel could tell. Steve was leaning forward, watching with a fascinated expression. The episodes being marathoned were older ones, with the Ninth Doctor, but that only made it easier for Steve to follow the story. When Gabriel got up in the middle of the second episode to make popcorn, Steve barely noticed.

Gabriel smirked to himself. He was pretty sure that he’d just converted Steve to the wonders of television.

“Still think TV is an abomination, my friend?” Gabriel asked, during the credits of the second episode.

Steve glanced at him, looking startled.

“I never thought that,” he said. “I just didn’t see the point of it, that’s all.” He looked back at the screen. “No one told me it showed stuff like _this_ ,” he added honestly.

Gabriel filed that odd comment away to examine later. For now all he said was, “Well, now you know better! Don’t get me wrong, most of what’s on TV is trash, but sometimes there’s good stuff on, you know? You just have to find it.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

The next episode started up, then, and Steve was immediately glued to the screen.

Gabriel grabbed a handful of popcorn, and settled down again to watch, as well.

The two of them didn’t end up getting to their separate beds until early in the morning, but it was worth it.

* * *

The next day Gabriel volunteered with the Clean Up Army again. Everyone was talking about how their local places of worship had been miraculously restored overnight, and Gabriel pretended surprise and wonder along with the rest of them.

One woman, though, wasn’t so appreciative.

“Even if it is some kind of miracle, why fix churches?” she asked. “In the end, they’re nothing more than a symbol. Why not fix something that could do some real good, like the homeless shelters, or people’s homes? Fixing churches makes a nice grand gesture, but it doesn’t actually do any _good_.”

“It gives people hope,” Steve said quietly, but with conviction. He didn’t seem to know how to take the restoration of the places of worship, unsure of whether it was a genuine miracle or not, but he seemed to have a good idea of how people would respond to it. “It tells them that maybe there’s someone looking out for them. Maybe it doesn’t solve any problems, but it gives people the drive to fix those problems themselves.”

That was a nice answer, Gabriel thought. Too bad it wasn’t the real reason, but he wasn’t about to tell Steve that.

“You’ve got a point, though,” Gabriel told the woman, who seemed only slightly mollified by Steve’s little speech. “I can see how making sure everyone has a place to sleep is more of a priority right now. Maybe you should pray about it, or something.”

The woman snorted, but didn’t argue any further.

And Gabriel? Gabriel added ‘fixing homeless shelters’ to his mental to-do list.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Over the weeks that followed, Gabriel adjusted to the new world he was in. To his relief, the pop culture references were mostly the same, although there were two years worth that Gabriel had missed, as a result of time differences between his universe and this one (well, that or he’d been dead for two years, which was an unnerving thought that Gabriel preferred to dismiss).

Technology, on the other hand, was a _lot_ more advanced than Gabriel was used to. He ended up buying something called a Stark Phone so that he and Steve could call each other when they were out: it was a small, transparent piece of plastic with a touch-screen instead of buttons, which could be used to make video calls as well as traditional audio-only calls. Stark Industries in general seemed far too advanced, between their clean-energy initiatives and Tony Stark’s flying combat armour. But then, Gabriel reflected, it was a comic book universe. It figured that the science and technology was a little different from home.

Magic was different, too. Back home the world was full of ambient magic, inert and waiting to be used; here, there wasn’t much ambient magic – not on Earth, anyway – but what magic did exist was mostly already being used for something. It too Gabriel a while to get used to the fact that in this world magic was just another kind of energy, bound to follow natural laws more closely than in Gabriel’s reality.

As time passed, Gabriel fell into a routine. During the day he’d help with the human clean-up effort, while at night he’d hang around with Steve until the guy wanted to go to bed, and then he’d snap himself to various parts of the city, using his Grace to repair some of the damage done by the alien invasion.

Gabriel wasn’t entirely sure why he was doing it; he couldn’t do all that much at a time because of the wound in his Grace, and he wasn’t sure that his actions made much difference. But at least he was _doing_ something, he thought.

By the time a few weeks had passed, Steve and Gabriel had become firm friends. Steve was just as lonely as Gabriel, maybe even more so, and grieving for something, although Gabriel didn’t know what. But after a while Steve started smiling a little more, cracking jokes now and again, and Gabriel was glad that whatever Steve was mourning, Gabriel’s presence seemed to help. Steve’s soul was bright, and it shone, even through Steve’s grief and sadness.

By this point, Gabriel felt that he knew Steve pretty well. Steve was kind and principled, with a hatred of bullies and a strong belief in fair play. He could be disapproving at times, but that didn’t make him humourless: on the contrary, when Steve wasn’t busy brooding, he could be a sassy son of a bitch who gave as good as he got.

He was a strange guy, though. He understood almost zero pop culture references, even the basics like Star Wars or Jurassic Park, seemed bewildered by technology, and as far as Gabriel knew, didn’t have a single friend besides Gabriel himself. Not to mention the way Steve sometimes dressed like someone’s grandfather, or how cagey he was about his past. Something didn’t add up, and it made Gabriel suspicious. Still, there didn’t seem to be any harm in Steve, so Gabriel let it lie – for now, at least.

Gabriel was at Steve’s and the two of them were playing cards when someone rapped on Steve’s door.

“Expecting anyone?” Gabriel asked.

“No,” Steve said. “Better go see who it is.”

Gabriel watched as Steve walked over, and opened the door a crack. Gabriel heard Steve’s surprised intake of breath.

“Natasha?” Steve opened the door all the way, so that the red-headed woman at the door could come in. “What are you doing here?”

“Fury sent me.” Her eyes went to Gabriel. “Who’s this?”

“This is my neighbour, Gabriel,” Steve introduced. Gabriel gave her a little wave.

“Say, aren’t you the Black Widow?” he asked, because he rarely forgot a face. Especially not one he saw fighting aliens. “I saw you on TV. Nice job with the alien invasion, by the way.”

Natasha’s eyes moved back to Steve, a question in them. Steve shook his head slightly. Gabriel watched with narrowed eyes.

“So,” Gabriel asked brightly, leaning back in his chair, “how do you two know each other?”

“We worked together once,” Natasha said dismissively, looking around Steve’s apartment. “Tell me someone else designed this place, Rogers, because this is just sad.”

“I know, right?” Gabriel piped up. “It’s like doing the time warp in here. Just a jump to the left, and hey presto, welcome to Steve’s 1945 apartment. I’d say no one redecorated in seventy years, except that the wallpaper looks suspiciously new and all the furniture is really polished.”

Natasha looked at Steve. Steve sighed.

“I think they were trying to make me feel at home,” he said, which was another weird thing to say.

“This is terrible,” said Natasha. “Rogers, you need to redecorate.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling him,” Gabriel agreed, “but he says it’ll cost too much and that it’s _impolite_ to whoever did the decorating.”

Natasha gave Steve a look which spoke volumes.

“Fine.” Steve gave in. “But I’m not doing this alone.” He looked at Gabriel. “If you want this place to change, you get to help.”

“Gladly,” Gabriel said. “I’ve just been waiting for you to come to your senses and ask.”

“You said Fury sent you?” Steve asked, turning back to Natasha.

She nodded, smiling faintly.

“He wanted to see how you were doing, after everything.”

“And?” Steve raised an eyebrow, waiting for her judgement.

Natasha raised an eyebrow right back.

“You seem to be getting along pretty well to me,” she said, her eyes flickering to Gabriel. “I think I expected you to be moping around thinking about the past.”

“I probably would be, if it weren’t for Gabriel,” Steve admitted. He smiled crookedly. “He’s been keeping me company. You want a drink, or something?”

“Thanks, but I should get going,” Natasha said, with a smile. “I’ll tell Fury you seem to be coping just fine.”

“Then I guess I’ll see you when I see you,” said Steve.

Gabriel waited until Natasha was gone before he asked, “So, Steve, how do you _really_ know the Black Widow, hmm?”

“We worked together, like she said.” Steve sat back down at the table and picked up his cards again.

“Steve. _Steve_. You really think I’m that oblivious?” Gabriel cocked an eyebrow. “The way you don’t understand even the simplest of pop culture references, the caginess about your past? The fact that your apartment is a mausoleum dedicated to 1945? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re a man out of time. Seventy years out.”

Gabriel sat back, and waited for Steve to respond. Steve was silent for a long moment.

“Well?” Gabriel asked. “What, cat got your tongue?”

“You’re not wrong,” Steve said finally. His voice was heavy. “I spent seventy years frozen in ice, until they found me and thawed me out.”

“ ‘They?’ ” Gabriel repeated.

“SHIELD,” said Steve. “Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

“Uh-huh.” Gabriel leaned forward, fixing his eyes firmly on Steve. “Normal humans don’t survive seventy years in ice, Steve. What _are_ you?”

Steve smiled, a bitter, hurting expression.

“I’m Captain America,” he said simply.

Gabriel stared at him.

“Holy shit,” he said. “Well, that’d explain it.”

“You can’t tell anyone,” said Steve.

Gabriel hooted with laughter.

“Who would I tell?” he asked pointedly. “In case you haven’t noticed, Steve, you’re the only friend I’ve got. What, do you expect me to splash it all over the papers, or something? Sell it to the tabloids: _Captain America’s closest friend tells all?_ ”

Gabriel dropped the theatrical tone and just looked at Steve, his expression serious.

“Of course I’m not going to tell anyone, dummy. Now stop flashing me your cards and let’s get on with this.”

Steve looked hilariously gobsmacked.

“That’s it?” he asked, not moving. “You don’t have questions?”

Gabriel raised one eyebrow.

“Should I? You explained things pretty succinctly, I thought. Why, is there something you want to tell me?”

Steve shook his head, looking vaguely bewildered.

“Most people get all… excited, when they find out it’s me,” he said eventually.

“Steve, trust me, I am _not_ most people,” Gabriel said dryly. “Would you prefer I made a song and dance about it?”

“No.” Steve looked bemused, now. “You really don’t care?”

Gabriel thought about it.

“I think you did good things for your country, and the world, and you deserve kudos for that,” he said. “But the whole hero-worship thing some people have going on? You’re not a god, Steve.”

“I know I’m not,” Steve said firmly. “There’s only one God.” His brow furrowed. “I think.”

“Confused by Thor and Loki?” Gabriel asked knowingly. “I think they’re more like godlike aliens than actual gods. Although maybe they’re just gods, not _Gods_.”

“What?”

“gods, lower-case,” Gabriel explained. “Limited powers. God, with a capital G, unlimited powers, and happens to be the guy who created life, the universe and everything. That clear things up for you?”

“Not really,” Steve admitted.

“Anyway, the point is, you don’t need to keep hiding who you are,” said Gabriel. “So no more talking around things because they’re about Captain America’s exciting life punching Nazis.”

Steve gave a bleak laugh.

“My life isn’t all punching Nazis. It’s not exactly everything it’s cracked up to be,” he said wryly.

“You want a piece of advice? Nothing ever is,” Gabriel said sagely. “Tell me something. What had you so down when I turned up? You were more depressed than cat in a rainstorm.” He looked at Steve inquiringly.

Steve hesitated for a long moment.

“I lost everything,” he finally replied. “My world, my friends… the life I was going to have. Woke up in a new world to find nearly everyone was dead, and I was some sort of legendary figure. Everyone cared about Captain America; no one gave a damn about Steve Rogers. It was a little easier after the invasion, because I’d been reminded that there were still people out there worth fighting for, but… I was still all alone.” He smiled slightly, and shook his head. “And then I met you in Central Park.”

Gabriel was silent as he absorbed Steve’s story. The parallels were… painful.

“You’re not the only one who’s lost everything,” Gabriel said eventually. “My family, everyone I cared about, they’re gone.” He swallowed. “I hadn’t seen any of them in years – ideological differences – but…” He gave a small shrug, looking down at the table. “It’s different, knowing I can’t see them even if I want to.”

What Gabriel would give to be able to see one of his brothers. Well – maybe not Lucifer, or Zachariah, loathsome little toady that he was, but pretty much anyone else, Gabriel would have been delighted to see. It was ironic – he’d spent so long hiding from all of his brothers, and now that Gabriel _wanted_ to see them, he couldn’t.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said sincerely. “What happened?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Gabriel said, to avoid being forced to lie. “It was… it wasn’t good.”

Steve nodded, accepting that answer. He gave Gabriel a rueful smile.

“Guess we’re both in the same boat, huh,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Gabriel. “Guess we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys - what would you like to see in this story?


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

As though Natasha’s visit was some kind of cue, the next week Tony Stark turned up at Steve’s door.

Steve was in the middle of making nachos (his new favourite thing about the 21st century, as far as Gabriel could tell), so it was Gabriel who opened the door.

“Rogers!” Tony Stark began, before the door was opened more than a crack. “Okay, so I know we didn’t exactly hit it off before the whole ‘working together as a team’ thing, but I think…” His voice trailed off, as he noticed that it wasn’t Steve at the door, but Gabriel. “You’re not Rogers.”

“What gave it away?” Gabriel asked. “My incredible good looks, or the fact that I don’t dress like someone’s grandpa?”

“It was probably your height,” Steve called from the kitchenette.

“Screw you, Rogers!” Gabriel called over his shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with my height, you moose!”

“He is uncomfortably tall, isn’t he,” Stark observed, peering at Gabriel over the top of his coloured sunglasses. “Who are you, by the way?”

“Gabriel Messenger,” Gabriel responded, giving the name he’d made up for all the paperwork he’d needed for his apartment. What? It was the closest thing he had to a real name, and it wasn’t like people were likely to hear his name and think, _oh, he’s an archangel._ “Steve’s neighbour and BFF.”

“Right,” said Stark, walking past Gabriel, and into the apartment.

Gabriel and Steve had finished re-wallpapering it two days earlier, which had been a fiasco from start to finish. Gabriel _still_ wasn’t sure how he’d ended up gluing himself to the wall, but hey – at least the apartment looked better than it had previously. The arty bloom of pale greens and blues across the walls was a vast improvement over the boring floral pattern that had been there before.

“Rogers,” Stark began, and stopped as he saw what Steve was doing. “Are you making nachos? How do you even know about nachos? Did someone cover nachos in the ‘welcome to the 21st century’ briefing I assume SHIELD gave you?”

“Gabriel introduced me to them,” Steve said. “Stark. What are you doing here?”

“Right, about that,” said Stark. “This is a nice little apartment, I’m sure, very homey, and all that, but how would you feel about a bit more space?”

Steve looked at him warily.

“What do you mean?”

“Move into Stark Tower,” said Stark. “You’ll have an entire floor to yourself, all state-of-the-art in luxury. Bruce has already moved in, but I’m hoping to collect the whole set.”

“The whole set?” Steve repeated.

“The Avengers,” Stark clarified. “By the end of the invasion we were working pretty well together as a team – at least I thought so – and I figured, it’d make it easier and more convenient if we were all living in the same place, so I started designing–”

“Stark,” Steve interrupted the flow of words. “It’s a nice offer, but I like where I am.”

“Really?” Stark looked around, with raised eyebrows. “You like it here? I mean, different tastes, and all that–”

“ _Really_ ,” Steve said firmly. “I like it where I am. I’ve only just finished wallpapering the entire apartment, and besides, even if I hadn’t signed a lease, my friends are here.” He looked pointedly at Gabriel.

Stark looked wrong-footed.

“Oh,” he said.

“It was nice of you to offer, and it’s a good idea, but I don’t really want to move,” Steve said kindly. “But you’re welcome to visit, if you like.”

“Now if you’ll excuse us, we have nachos to eat,” Gabriel said cheerfully, already reaching for a plate.

“You know, why don’t you come to dinner tomorrow?” Stark blurted out. “Pepper would love to meet you, and well, you already know Bruce.”

“I don’t know, Stark.” Steve’s brow wrinkled uncertainly.

“Call me Tony,” Stark said. “Your friend can come too, if you like. Provide moral support, etcetera. I’ll see if I can get onto the Spy Twins, invite them too. It can be like an Avengers reunion.” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for Steve’s answer.

Steve looked at Gabriel.

“Hey, don’t look at me, it’s your call,” Gabriel told him. “Am I going to say no to dinner with the rest of your little boy-band? Hell no. Would I be insulted if you feel more like staying in? Nope. It’s up to you, Steve.”

“Technically it’s not a boy-band,” said Stark. “Since Natasha’s a member.” He was giving Gabriel a considering look. “You have sass. I like that in a person.”

“Then hoo-boy, you have struck the motherlode,” Gabriel told him. “Because I am nothing but Grace and sass in a human-shaped package.”

“I wouldn’t describe you as graceful,” said Steve, not understanding what Gabriel meant by Grace.

“Bite me, Captain Tightpants,” Gabriel retorted.

Stark didn’t even try to hide his smirk.

“You know what, even if Cap doesn’t come to dinner, you’re invited anyway,” he told Gabriel. “I could use someone around the place who understands sass. Dinner can be so dreadfully dull.”

“Bet your girlfriend would be pleased to hear that,” Gabriel said.

“I mean the dinners where Pep’s not there,” Stark corrected himself seamlessly. “Because obviously, dinner with Pepper is always scintillating.” He helped himself to one of the corn chips from Gabriel’s plate of nachos.

“Hey, sticky-fingers, keep your hands away from my nachos,” Gabriel said, glaring at him. “Do I look like a charity?”

“Do I look like a charity case?” Stark countered. “Uh, _billionaire_ , in case you forgot.”

“Oh, please.” Gabriel sneered slightly. “Are you really so insecure that you need to keep reminding people all the time?”

Stark blinked.

“I take it back, you’re uninvited,” Stark said. “I don’t like him,” he told Steve.

Steve was grinning.

“That’s too bad, because I’m only coming to dinner if Gabriel comes too,” he responded. “So what’ll it be, Stark?”

“I told you, call me Tony,” Stark said. “And fine, I guess the smartass can come to dinner. Be there by seven?”

“Sure,” said Steve. “Stark Tower?”

“I’m thinking of renaming it Avengers Tower, actually,” Stark – Tony – said breezily. “Although that depends on whether I can get the rest of the gang to move in.”

“Dinner at seven at Stark Tower,” Gabriel remarked. “Should be fun.”

“Dinner with me is always fun,” Tony said loftily. “Also, sometimes dangerous, but tomorrow night should be danger-free, as far as I know.”

“And here Steve was looking forward to dinging someone with that shield of his,” Gabriel said.

“I’ll cope,” Steve said, grinning. He looked at Tony. “Was there anything else you wanted?”

“Mostly to replace your incredibly unfashionable furniture, but I assume that’s the usual reaction to seeing your place,” said Tony. “I’ll see you both tomorrow. Cap. Sassy sidekick.”

He gave them both a small wave with one hand as he turned and showed himself out.

Steve finally joined Gabriel at the table, sitting down with his plate of nachos.

“So that was Stark,” Gabriel commented thoughtfully. “I think I like him. Guy’s got style.”

“You would,” Steve muttered, but good-naturedly. A moment later he frowned. “What do you think Stark – Tony, I mean – expects us to wear?”

“Well, it’s a private dinner, so I wouldn’t expect too formal,” Gabriel replied. “But I wouldn’t go too casual, either. Somewhere in between, I think.”

“I don’t really have many clothes,” Steve said, still frowning.

“Then we’ll go shopping tomorrow morning, pick you out something,” Gabriel said. “How’s that sound?”

“Sounds fine, I guess,” Steve answered.

“Good. Now eat your damn nachos.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

The next night Gabriel and Steve turned up at Stark Tower just before seven o’clock. Steve was wearing a blue dress shirt and black trousers, sans a jacket or tie, while Gabriel was wearing a white suit with a red dress shirt. Steve had made an incredible face when he first saw Gabriel wearing it, but whatever; Gabriel could wear what he wanted.

Steve and Gabriel made their way to the reception desk in the lobby.

“Uh, hi, I’m Steve Rogers, and this is Gabriel Messenger,” Steve said politely. “Tony Stark is expecting us.”

The receptionist smiled.

“Just take the elevator to the right, sir,” she said, indicating a single elevator that was on the opposite side of the lobby from the rest of the elevators. Steve and Gabriel looked at each other, before walking over to the elevator. When Steve pressed the door button, the elevator doors opened immediately. Steve and Gabriel stepped inside. The elevator didn’t have any floor buttons, but began moving upwards as soon as the doors were closed.

“I still can’t believe you’re wearing that outfit,” Steve muttered, as the elevator climbed floors.

“That’s because you have no sense of style, Captain Stars’n’Stripes,” Gabriel retorted.

“And you have no taste,” Steve returned. They fell into silence, and still the elevator continued to move upwards.

Finally it slowed, and the doors opened into a large living room with a bar, and a dining table at the other end of the room. Several people were seated on couches and lounge chairs.

For a moment they stood there, before Tony Stark appeared through a doorway.

“Steve,” said Tony, moving forwards to greet them. “You clean up surprisingly well.” He turned to Gabriel. “Dear God.”

Gabriel scowled.

“What?”

“That suit. That shirt,” said Tony. “The entire _combination_.”

“Oh, like you can talk, Mr Look-At-My-Purple-Suit,” Gabriel grumbled.

There was a quiet laugh from a slim, attractive red-headed woman wearing a blouse and a pencil skirt.

“Oh, right,” said Tony. “Guys, this is Pepper.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” she said, smiling at Steve and Gabriel equally.

“Ms Potts,” said Steve.

“Please, call me Pepper,” she said, and turned to look curiously at Gabriel.

“And this, apparently, is Gabriel Messenger,” said Tony. “Not that I believe for one moment that that’s your real name, seeing as there are eighty-seven Gabriel Messengers in the United States, and you don’t match up with any of them.”

Gabriel only smirked.

“Having trouble working out who I am, huh, Stark?”

“Wait, your name isn’t really Gabriel Messenger?” Steve asked, looking surprised and a little betrayed.

“Oh, my name is Gabriel,” Gabriel said, shrugging, and sticking his hands in his jacket pockets, “and I’m definitely a messenger. Just because I don’t have a legal identity doesn’t mean that it’s not my name, Steve.”

“You don’t have a legal identity?” asked the curly-haired man in the purple shirt, frowning.

“Rogers.” Natasha gave Steve an exasperated look. “Do you actually know anything about your friend here?”

“I know he eats more candy in a day than any one person should eat in a week,” Steve’s voice was even, “that he loves watching television, and that if it weren’t for him, I’d be a lot worse off than I am.” He looked to Gabriel. “Although I admit I’d like an explanation,” he added.

“Another thing,” Tony added. “You want to explain why the moment you stepped into the lobby, my AI told me that you’re radiating the kind of energy output that I’d expect from a small star?”

“What?” several people said at once, including the guy in the black vest who was sitting next to Natasha, and who was probably Hawkeye.

Gabriel blinked.

“Say what?” he asked incredulously. Was Tony getting energy readings from Gabriel’s _Grace?_ Gabriel wouldn’t have thought that was even possible.

“You heard me,” said Tony, surprisingly calm and steady-eyed as he took a step forward, meeting Gabriel’s eyes. “So what are you, Messenger? Alien? Demigod? Science experiment gone wrong?”

Gabriel took a deep breath. He hadn’t planned on revealing himself until his Grace was fully healed, at the least. He hadn’t been sure that he’d ever reveal himself at _all_.

Still, it couldn’t be helped. The last thing he needed was Tony Stark and the Avengers deciding that he was a threat when he was relatively (when compared to normal, anyway) helpless.

He summoned a cocky smile.

“None of the above,” Gabriel said, and spread all of his wings, and let their shadows show on the wall behind him.

Stunned silence fell.

“Oh my God,” said Steve, his eyes widening in incredulous astonishment and realisation. 

“Not exactly, but close,” Gabriel told him, and gave a tight smile. “Gabriel _the_ Messenger, at your service.”

Gabriel folded his wings away again, and allowed the shadows to disappear.

“That’s a neat trick,” said Tony, and although his eyes were wide, his voice was still calm. “But you know, somehow I imagined archangels to be a little more impressive.”

“You think I’m not impressive?” Gabriel took a step forward, closing the distance between him and Tony. “You think this form is what I really am? I am light and fire and divine Grace. I am one of Heaven’s greatest weapons, one of the four most powerful beings in creation, besides the one who made us all. If you saw me in my true form – which is about the size of Mercury, by the way – your eyes would melt out of your skull, while my true voice would shatter your eardrums faster than you could say ‘archangel.’ This? This is a vessel I wear so that I don’t destroy everything in my path, just by existing. If you don’t think that’s impressive, it’s only because you don’t understand what I really am.”

There was a long silence, broken by the curly-haired man.

“So why are you here?” he murmured.

Gabriel slumped.

“I had a run-in with one of my brothers,” he admitted. “Lucifer, he of rebellion and a really bad temper. Unfortunately, Lucifer is both older and more powerful than I am – not to mention a lot more homicidal – and I’m not exactly at my best, right now. So I’m stuck on Earth, in this reality, until I’ve finished healing. At _least_.”

Most of the room was still looking stunned. Steve glanced at Steve, to see Steve looking back at him in disbelieving awe.

“You’re really Gabriel the archangel?” Steve asked in a hushed voice.

Gabriel managed a smile.

“You bet your ass.”

“You don’t _look_ injured,” said the guy in the black vest. Gabriel gave him a look.

“This isn’t my true form, remember? It’s my Grace that’s injured, not my vessel.”

“Grace?” Tony repeated.

“It’s what makes me an angel,” Gabriel responded to the implied question. “Sort of the angelic equivalent to the human soul. It’s power, energy, bound together to form an angel. If it stops being held together, the Grace disperses and the angel dies. Fortunately, I’m not about to explode any time soon, as long as I don’t over-exert myself with the phenomenal cosmic powers.”

“But that could happen?” the curly-haired man asked, sounding concerned. “You could explode?”

Gabriel grimaced.

“If I did, it would be contained by my vessel. It’s only if I’m in my true form that you have to worry about collateral damage, so relax.”

“I can’t believe you’re an archangel,” Steve murmured.

“Yeah, and hopefully no one else will, either.” Gabriel looked around, meeting everyone’s eyes. “I’d like my status to remain on the down-low, so if you could keep this to yourselves, I’d appreciate it. That means no telling covert agencies what I am.”

“You do realise that Rogers is under surveillance, right?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow. “SHIELD is probably already trying to figure out who you are. The only reason they haven’t done anything about you is that you seem to be more of a help than a threat.”

“What?” Steve scowled. “What are you talking about?” His body language shifted into something more threatening. Gabriel didn’t think Steve was even aware of it.

“I know for a fact that your next-door neighbour is a SHIELD agent,” Natasha responded coolly, unmoved.

“The hot blonde one?” Gabriel asked. This garnered some odd looks. “What? I’m an archangel, not a monk. And if I were going to put a plant in place, a hot blonde one would be exactly the type. I mean, who isn’t into hot blondes?”

“My neighbour is a SHIELD plant?” Steve repeated. He sounded disappointed in SHIELD. “I don’t need surveillance.”

“Cap, you’re a national icon,” Tony  said bracingly. “SHIELD is SHIELD. Of course they were going to put you under surveillance.”

“Steve, you’ve been out of the world for seventy years,” Natasha said kindly. “I’m sure that it’s to make sure you’re adjusting, as much as anyone else. Besides, what if someone you were interacting with wasn’t what they seemed?” She tilted her head at Gabriel. “If he’d turned out to be hostile, SHIELD would have sent in back-up.”

“I can take care of myself,” said Steve. His scowl had deepened, and Gabriel had the feeling that someone in SHIELD was going to get an earful later.

Natasha raised both eyebrows.

“Really? Because so far you seem to have been relying on him a lot," she nodded in Gabriel's direction, "for someone who can take care of themselves It’s actually pretty light surveillance, if that helps.”

“It doesn’t,” Steve said grimly.

“Relax.” Gabriel reached up to clap him on the shoulder. “You can read someone the riot act later.” He turned his head to look at Tony. “You want to introduce the rest of the room, shorty?”

“I’m the same height as you,” Tony blinked.

“The same height as my vessel, maybe,” Gabriel smirked. “Size of Mercury, remember?”

“If you’re the size of a planet, how come you fit in a human body, then?” asked the black vest guy.

Gabriel shrugged.

“By folding time and space. The math’s a bit beyond you, Legolas.”

“Not you too!” Black Vest Guy exploded. “Stark’s already called me that twice!”

“Really? I’ll have to come up with a better nickname then,” Gabriel mused. “Katniss? Merida?”

“I say again, I like your sass,” Tony told him.

“Jesus, you’re as bad as he is,” Black Vest Guy groaned.

“Anyway, as you’ve already deduced, the guy in the vest is Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye,” said Tony, gesturing. “The lovely lady next to him is Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow; while the charming gentleman in the purple shirt is Dr Bruce Banner, whose alter-ego is the Hulk.”

“Tony,” Bruce chided, with a slight wince.

Pepper Potts cleared her throat. Everyone looked at her. Up until now she’d been quiet, apparently absorbing Gabriel’s claim of being an archangel.

“It’s a quarter to eight,” she pointed out. “Perhaps we should all have dinner?”

“You, Pep, are absolutely right,” Tony declared, kissing her on the cheek. “Everyone take a seat. I’ll tell the chef to have dinner brought up.” He pulled out a cell phone.

The small group all moved to sit at the dining table. Gabriel found himself with Steve on one side, and an empty seat on the other, which was filled by Tony a moment later.

Gabriel wondered what food had been prepared, and hoped that dinner went better than everything prior to that had.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Dinner actually went a lot better than Gabriel had expected.

Tony and Bruce had questions for Gabriel about being an archangel: some of them were easy to answer, some had answers that made no sense to anyone but the two scientists, and some were simply unanswerable in any human language because humanity hadn’t invented the concepts yet. This frustrated Tony greatly, but Pepper stepped in at this point, deftly changing the subject, and the topic of discussion finally moved to something that wasn’t Gabriel. Gabriel sent her a grateful look, and Pepper winked at him with a slight smile.

Gabriel decided that he liked Pepper.

Steve was strangely subdued for most of the night. Although he answered any remarks addressed to him, he wasn’t his usual sassy self, and Gabriel could practically see the gears whirring away in his head.

Barton, to Gabriel’s delight, turned out to be as sassy as he and Tony were, with refreshingly frank manners that occasionally had Natasha elbowing him in the side when he was a little _too_ honest. All of Clint’s stories were hilarious, and Gabriel found himself laughing at them. Tony added his own commentary on some of them, waving his wine glass around as he talked. Natasha didn’t tell any stories, but had comments ready for everything everyone else said.

Overall, it was an unexpectedly pleasant night, apart from Steve’s subdued manner.

Eventually Steve started making noises about how it was getting late and he and Gabriel needed to be getting home. Tony insisted on sending them home in a limo, which Pepper assured them was no trouble.

Both Gabriel and Steve were more or less silent during the drive back to Brooklyn. Gabriel glanced at Steve. It was clear that he was bursting with questions that he hadn’t felt able to ask during dinner, and was impatient to get back to their building so that the two of them could talk openly.

After Tony’s driver dropped them off, Gabriel looked up at Steve.

“Your place or mine, big boy?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows. For once, Steve didn’t so much as smile at the quip.

“Either works.”

“Okay, then let’s head up to my apartment. I could use some candy for this discussion.”

So the two of them walked up to Gabriel’s apartment, where Gabriel sprawled in one of his dining chairs, grabbed a candy bar, and waited for Steve to talk.

“You’re an angel,” Steve said finally, like he wasn’t sure where to start.

“Archangel,” Gabriel corrected. Steve gave a deep sigh, and rested his fists on his hips.

“Are you some kind of guardian angel?”

The question was so unexpected that Gabriel threw back his head in a howl of laughter, and nearly fell off his chair.

When he looked back at Steve, his friend was frowning in hurt and confusion.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting _that_ question,” Gabriel said, chuckling, and shaking his head. He looked back at Steve. “You think I’d have the patience to be a guardian angel? All that sitting around, watching over someone 24/7, without so much as a snack break? _Boring_. So to answer your question, Steve, no, I am _not_ a guardian angel.” Gabriel snorted at the thought.

Steve seemed a little chagrined by that answer.

“Oh.”

“What?” Gabriel cocked his head. “Did you think that maybe I was sent to watch over you?”

Flushing slightly, Steve nodded.

“Well sorry to burst your bubble, bucko, but to be honest, I’m not even supposed to be here in the first place. But my Grace has got to be fully healed before I can even try to get home, so here I am. I’m just glad I’ve had you around. Makes things a lot less lonely, you know?”

Steve took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

“Yeah,” he said. “I think I do.” He looked thoughtfully at Gabriel. “You said you had a run-in with Lucifer. What happened?”

Gabriel closed his eyes for a minute. Of all the questions Steve could have asked…

“My big brother tried to kill me, back in our universe, because I tried to stop the apocalypse,” Gabriel said heavily. “It’s a miracle I’m alive at all. Stabbing me like that should have killed me.”

Steve’s face twisted in sympathy and alarm.

“I’m sorry he did that,” Steve said. “But the _apocalypse?_ And what do you mean, your universe?”

Gabriel shrugged, unwrapping of his candy bar and taking a bite from it.

“There’s more than one universe,” he said through his mouthful. “A multitude, in fact. This reality is just one of them. Angels come from another.”

Steve blinked.

“Our universe doesn’t have angels?”

“Nope. This reality is strictly angel-free. I’m the only exception. I’m not even sure how I got here. Dad’s work, I guess.”

Steve blinked again.

“You call Him Dad?”

“ _Our Father, who art in Heaven_ ,” Gabriel quoted, and snorted. “Or used to be in Heaven, anyhow. Only he knows where he is, now.”

“I don’t understand any of this.” Steve leaned forward on the table. “God’s not around? The apocalypse is happening?”

“First of all, no, and secondly, yes, but only in my reality. Problem is, if it succeeds in going through, that could affect the outcome of every other reality. It’s complicated.” Gabriel took another bite of his candy bar. “The angels have never really liked humans, is the thing. World’s worst superiority complex. In Dad’s absence they’ve decided that the apocalypse is a good thing, and since Hell agrees with them, things aren’t looking too good for Earth.” Gabriel sighed. “I tried to stop it by killing Lucifer before he could do any more damage, but you can see how that turned out.”

Steve looked aghast.

“Isn’t anyone trying to stop it?” he asked, sounding distressed. Gabriel gave a bitter laugh.

“Oh, yeah. A pair of lunkheads I wouldn’t trust to look after a hamster, and a fallen angel in danger of losing his wings any day now. So you know, the situation doesn’t look good.” Gabriel sobered. “I just hope to Dad that they somehow find a way, no matter how hopeless it seems.”

He shook his head, and looked at Steve with a wry smile.

“Guess that’s a bit much to dump on someone all at once, huh?”

“Maybe a little.” Steve looked slightly dazed. “Thank you for telling me.”

“I just told you that the world might end because Heaven is full of dicks, and you’re _thanking_ me?” Gabriel demanded.

Steve smiled, although his expression was dark.

“Well, it’s always better to know the truth, than keep believing the lie,” he said. “Freedom is better than a comfortable cage. Besides,” his smile lightened slightly, “now I know who to believe in.” The look he gave Gabriel was meaningful.

Gabriel shifted uncomfortably.

“Don’t put me on some kind of pedestal, Steve. I lost faith like the rest of them. It was only because the pair of lunkheads I mentioned kicked my ass that I changed my mind. Well, that and Castiel’s accusing look. Kid has a stare to rival Dad’s.”

“But you found your faith again,” Steve said, and Gabriel laughed incredulously.

“You think I regained my faith? _Steve_. My faith isn’t in Dad, not anymore. It’s in people like _you_.” Gabriel gestured towards him. “Humanity. Dad’s last and most shining creation.”

Steve looked pleased, but baffled.

“If you think humans are better than angels, you’ve got to be crazy,” he said. “Gabriel–”

“See, that’s what everyone thinks, that angels are somehow better than humans,” Gabriel interrupted. “That we’re somehow above hatred and corruption and pettiness, but we’re really not. The only difference between us and you is that we’re a lot more powerful, and we hold a grudge better. That’s all, Steve.”

“That’s all?” Steve raised an eyebrow.

“Well, plus we’re slow to change and have trouble thinking for ourselves,” Gabriel admitted. “Trust me, the best of humanity is better than the best of angels. I should know. Well, except for Castiel, maybe. Kid has a good heart, unlike most of us.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think you’re not so bad.” Steve gave Gabriel a faint smile.

Gabriel didn’t smile back.

“You say that because you don’t know what I’ve done, Steve. What I’ve been. Just because I’m on Team Free Will _now_ doesn’t mean I always was.”

“I hear they call that ‘personal growth,’ these days,” Steve said, and gave Gabriel a stern look intermixed with fondness. “Everyone makes bad decisions. The point is that we learn from them. From what you’ve said, that seems to apply to angels just as much as humans.” Steve leaned forward, his tone earnest. “It doesn’t matter what you did in the past. You’re on our side now, and I believe in you, Gabriel.”

Gabriel had to shut his eyes against the well of feeling Steve’s sincere words caused. It was stupid – Steve had no idea what he was talking about – but some of the burden of guilt and regret inside Gabriel eased.

“Shut up,” Gabriel muttered, but there was no heat in his tone. “You’re making me blush.”

Steve’s sudden grin was wide.

“Really?” he asked jokingly. “I made an archangel blush. That’s something, alright.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes, but welcomed the lightening of the mood.

“Whatever, Rogers,” he said.

Steve continued to grin.  
 


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Gabriel sat in the rooftop garden and stared up at the night sky. It was cool and quiet, and Gabriel felt the silence in his head more keenly than ever. He’d gotten used to it, over the last few weeks, but that didn’t mean the loss of his brother’s voices didn’t make him ache somewhere inside.

Gabriel’s Grace was finally healed to the point where he _should_ be capable of flying without tearing the wound open. Gabriel was about to test that theory.

Gingerly, Gabriel unfolded his wings, all six of them, and took flight before he could lose his nerve.

Gabriel’s Grace twinged a bit, and for a second he almost panicked; but nothing else happened, Gabriel’s Grace bearing up well, and with a whoop Gabriel flew in earnest.

Dad, he’d missed being able to stretch his wings! Snapping himself somewhere just wasn’t the same (and took a lot more power, besides). Flying – flying was a freedom Gabriel had sorely missed.

After loop-de-looping around the Earth a few times, Gabriel reached out with his senses and studied the planet. There were several active magical traces at present, and a few faint magical trails leading from Earth to who-knew-where. Gabriel chose the most recent trail, and followed it to its destination, hiding himself from anyone else’s senses as he did so.

He found himself standing at the edge of a large, beautiful city, golden and full of sweeping spires. Gabriel whistled.

“Now that’s grandeur,” he remarked.

The city was _buzzing_ with magic, people and objects alike full of magical energy, and the faint energy trail that Gabriel had been following was lost among the amount of magic being given off by other sources.

With a shrug, Gabriel decided that he might as well explore. Snapping up a lollipop and sticking it in his mouth, Gabriel began walking.

The grandeur of the city only increased as Gabriel moved towards its centre, culminating in a building that was even larger and grander than the others. IT wa clearly a palace.

Gabriel frowned up at it thoughtfully. He was pretty sure that this was this Asgard. If he was right, then this reality’s Loki was probably imprisoned somewhere within the city. And Gabriel was curious.

Smirking to himself, Gabriel began looking for the city jail.

* * *

It took Gabriel about an hour and two lollipops to find the prison, deep under the palace. The boundaries of each cell were energised, designed to repel magic from both sides. Loki was in the first cell on the left, sitting with his back to the wall, legs stretched out in front of him, a bored expression on his face. Gabriel took flight, passing easily through the boundaries of the cell – they were designed to repel _magic_ , not Grace – and landing in Loki’s cell.

With a thought, he made himself visible and audible to Loki.

Without moving an inch, Loki went from lax and bored to alert and ready for action.

“Who are you? How did you get in here?” Loki demanded, his tone imperious.

“So you’re the cat that invaded Earth,” Gabriel greeted Loki, ignoring his demands. “Got to say, you looked more impressive on TV.”

“You are not mortal,” said Loki, his eyes sharp.

“Nope.” Gabriel smirked. “I’m even less mortal than you are.”

“The constraints of this cell are designed to withstand magic, inside and out,” said Loki suspiciously. “How did you get in here?”

Gabriel beamed in a way he knew was especially irritating.

“Who said I used magic?” he asked brightly, and snapped up a comfortable recliner to sit in.

Loki was silent for a moment.

“What you are suggesting is impossible.”

“Everything about me is impossible, and yet here I am,” Gabriel said flippantly. He took a good long look at Loki's soul, and was disappointed, but not surprised, by what he found.

Just then a guard walked past Loki’s cell without paying any attention to the extra occupant, and Loki frowned in realisation.

“No one but me can see you, can they?”

“Observant of you.” Gabriel interlocked his fingers behind his head, leaning back in the recliner.

“What do you want with me?” Loki asked warily, watching Gabriel with narrowed eyes.

“Just a chat, that’s all,” Gabriel replied cheerfully. “I found myself curious.”

“About what?” Loki went along with the conversation.

“Well, why you decided to invade Earth, for one thing. Also, why you ever thought that helmet of yours was a good idea. Horns are so last season.”

Loki scowled.

“You mock me.”

“Sweetcheeks, I mock everyone,” Gabriel told him. “You’re not an exception.”

“What are you?” Loki asked. Grinning, Gabriel sat forward in his chair.

“Wouldn’t _you_ like to know,” he said mysteriously. He could tell that he was annoying the hell out of Loki, but at the same time, the god wanted answers badly enough to keep persisting with the conversation.

Gabriel decided that he was enjoying this situation.

“I really would.” Loki watched Gabriel intently as Gabriel snapped up a candy bar. “I cannot sense the use of any form of magic that I recognise. Is this some mortal trick?”

“Oh, _brother_.” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “You’re like the opposite of humanity, you know that? Humans find something they don’t understand, they assume it’s the work of a higher power. You, on the other hand, decide that it’s the work of a lesser.”

“Your words, not mine.” Loki’s smile was sharp. “I assure you, I am well aware that the mortals have graduated to a higher level of existence than most of Asgard believes. After all, they are why I am in this cell, are they not?”

Gabriel snorted.

“If you really thought that highly of humans, you wouldn’t have attacked them in the first place.”

“Perhaps I learned my lesson,” Loki suggested.

Gabriel shook his head.

“Somehow, I don’t think so. You’re more the plotting type than the learning-your-lesson type.”

“You think you know me?” Loki seemed insulted. “You think that because you saw me on television, that you know who I am? I am _ancient_ compared to humanity–”

Loki broke off as Gabriel guffawed.

“You think you’re _ancient?_ ” Gabriel couldn’t hold back his laughter. “Oh, boy. You’re, what, a measly thousand years old, and you think that makes you ancient?” Gabriel was highly amused. “Please. You’re an _infant_.”

Gabriel leaned forward, his eyes boring into Loki’s.

“Me, on the other hand? I _am_ ancient. I remember when this universe was dark, when there was nothing but clouds of gas and random matter. I was there when the stars were born, when the worlds formed and came together. I was around long before life even evolved on your planet, and you sit there and look me in the eye and tell me that _you’re_ ancient? Kid, I am way out of your league.”

Loki’s eyes were slightly wide, but otherwise he showed no sign of being affected by Gabriel’s little speech.

“Then why concern yourself with me, O ancient one?” A flash of sarcasm made itself known.

Gabriel shrugged, and leaned back in his recliner again.

“When you get to be as old as I am, life can get pretty boring. Considering that you attacked my adopted home planet, I figured I’d drop by and see what kind of guy you were.”

“And?” Loki raised an eyebrow.

“I think the phrase ‘arrogant kid’ about covers it,” Gabriel decided. He got to his feet, vanishing the recliner. “It’s been fun, but I think we’ve said everything that needed to be said.”

“You could release me from here,” Loki said, watching Gabriel. “If you so chose.”

“Sure I could,” Gabriel agreed. “Am I going to? Nope.” He reached out and gently flicked Loki’s nose, grinning at the look of outrage it provoked. “I think it’s best if you stay in time-out a while longer, and think on your sins. Who knows, you might even learn something.”

“Oh, I have learned _plenty_ ,” Loki said darkly.

“Yeah, that’s what worries me,” Gabriel admitted. “And I’d rather not have to erase you from existence, so I think it’s best if your ass stays put in this cell, for now. Toodles.”

Before Loki could respond, Gabriel took flight, heading back to Earth.

He landed back in the rooftop garden, and shook his head. Loki had potential, but the kid still had a lot to learn. That was what made him so dangerous. Right now he was just clever enough to cause trouble, without the wisdom to know how to handle it. A cell was the  best place for him.

Gabriel just hoped Asgard managed to keep Loki contained. A slippery mind like that one was probably capable of figuring out a way to escape, eventually.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

“Who’s the babe?”

Steve jumped violently, and twisted his head back to see that Gabriel was leaning on the back of the couch, peering over his shoulder.

“What?” Steve asked blankly.

“You know,” Gabriel said. “The cutie in that photo you’re holding so carefully. Who is she?”

Steve hesitated, looking down at the photo. The woman in the old black-and-white photo had wavy hair and a strong face, with a determined glint in her eyes. She wasn’t smiling, but Gabriel reckoned that if she had been, she would have been a stunner.

“Margaret Carter,” Steve said finally. “Peggy. She was… she was Director of SHIELD, when this was taken. I knew her during the war, when she worked with the SSR.”

Gabriel only knew what Steve was talking about because he’d googled the history of Captain America at one point.

“That was the Allied science division, right?” he asked.

“Right.” Steve looked down at the photo. The lines of his face were sad and wistful. “She was kind of my best girl.”

“Kind of?” Gabriel asked curiously.

Steve let out a short laugh.

“I was a bit busy to be stepping out, in those days,” he said. “But I guess… I guess you could say we had an understanding. We were going to go on a date, once the war was over.” He fell silent again, just staring down at the woman in the photo. “It never happened.”

Gabriel wasn’t usually one for tact, but even he wasn’t completely insensitive.

“Is she still alive?” he asked gently.

Steve nodded.

“SHIELD showed me her file,” he said. “She’s in a care home now. She’s got some kind of disease, I forget its name, that makes people lose their memory.” He swallowed. “I don’t know if she’d even remember me.”

“Steve,” said Gabriel, “are you telling me that you haven’t even gone to visit your ‘best girl’ since you were thawed out?”

Steve looked abashed and stubborn and miserable, all in one go. Gabriel sighed, and took a seat next to Steve on the couch.

“Come on, buddy,” he told Steve. “This lady’s been waiting how many decades to see you again? If she does remember you, do you want her to think you’ve forgotten her?”

Steve flushed.

“No, I –”

“Come on,” Gabriel said again. “I know you want to see her, Steve. You wouldn’t be gazing longingly at her picture, otherwise. It’s time to man up. The last thing you want is to lose the chance to see her at all. She’s old. It could happen.”

Steve swallowed.

“I know,” he said, his voice quiet. “I – I know. Believe me.” He was silent for a moment. “It’s just… I always dreamed of living out the rest of my life with her. Instead, here I am, just the same as I was almost seventy years ago, while she’s lived an entire life since then. Moved on. Married someone else. I mean, I’m glad she moved on, didn’t spend her life pining after me – not that she was ever the type – but… it isn’t fair.” His grip on the photo tightened a little.

“Life never is, Steve,” Gabriel said, but not unkindly.

“Yeah,” said Steve. “Guess not.”

“Steve, you need to stop day-dreaming about what could have been, and start facing the reality of the world you’re in,” Gabriel recommended. “I know it’s hard. Believe me, I know all about not facing up to things you wish weren’t happening. But if you don’t shape up, all you’re left with is a list of regrets.”

“I’m trying,” Steve said honestly. “Some days are just worse than others.”

“Alright,” Gabriel agreed, because he knew that was true. “But I’m not going to let you hide from things, Steve. When do you want to go visit this Peggy of yours?”

Steve opened his mouth, then shut it again.

“Tomorrow,” he said finally. “You’re right. I should stop messing around and visit her.” He smiled a little, rather ruefully. “She’ll probably want to know why I wasn’t there sooner.” Steve glanced at Gabriel. “Gabriel, will you come with me? I know you don’t know Peggy at all, but–”

“She must be a hell of a woman to have gotten your attention,” said Gabriel. “Sure. I’d love to meet her. I can ask her for embarrassing stories about you.” He quirked his eyebrows.

Steve gave a small laugh, then sobered.

“Assuming she remembers.”

“Well, you know, I’m not exactly running on full-power right now, but I’m still an archangel,” Gabriel said nonchalantly. “Let’s see if I can help with that.”

Steve’s expression went from sad to disbelievingly hopeful so fast that it almost gave Gabriel emotional whiplash.

“Really?”

“No promises, but I’ll see what I can do,” Gabriel agreed. “If it’s really just some form of dementia, it should be easy enough for me to reverse.”

“Thank you.” Steve’s eyes looked suspiciously teary.

“Don’t mention it,” said Gabriel. “Really, don’t. I’m not good with excess emotion. Gives me hives.”

Steve gave another small laugh.

“Alright,” he promised, looking happier. “If that’s what you want, I won’t say a thing.”

* * *

The next day Gabriel flew the two of them out to the care home. Steve immediately looked a little green.

“What was _that?_ ” he gasped out, swallowing.

“Angelic flight,” said Gabriel, frowning at him. “It doesn’t seem to agree with you.”

“You think?” said Steve, sending Gabriel a look.

“Whatever, Steve, let’s go see your girl,” said Gabriel, and Steve’s expression changed, to something somewhere between sad and nervous.

The two of them walked into the reception building, and Steve asked to see Margaret Carter. The receptionist gave them a room number, and Steve thanked her politely.

He was looking incredibly nervous by now, and Gabriel kept an eye on them as they walked through the care home. Finally they got to the correct room, and Steve stopped outside, taking a large breath, and straightening his shoulders. Then he stepped into the room, Gabriel following.

There was an old lady lying in bed, her long hair spread out around her on the pillow. Her eyes widened at the sight of Steve.

“Steve? You’re _alive!_ ” the old lady gasped, and started to cry.

In that moment Steve’s own face crumpled, like he was about to cry himself, and Gabriel tactfully stepped back into the hallway to give them some privacy.

He stayed there for a while, leaning against the wall, hearing the murmur of Steve’s low, earnest voice, and the elderly lady’s wavering one drifting out through the open doorway.

After a while Steve’s voice called out, “Gabriel,” and Gabriel walked back into the room.

Steve was smiling, but Gabriel could see the pain under it.

“So this is the young man who’s been helping you,” said the elderly lady to Steve, giving Gabriel an appraising look. “You may call me Peggy,” she added to Gabriel

“Nice to meet you,” said Gabriel cheerfully. “I’m Gabriel. And someone had to look after this lug and keep him out of trouble.”

“Heavens, yes,” said Peggy. “I’ve never met anyone for attracting trouble like Steve, except, perhaps, for Howard’s son.”

Steve laughed slightly.

“Tony’s something else,” he said.

“Hells yeah,” Gabriel agreed. “Kid’s got style, though. So, Peggy, did Steve tell why I’m here? Because it’s not just for moral support.”

Peggy’s eyes narrowed.

“Actually, he didn’t.”

“Well, it’s like this,” said Gabriel. “I understand that you’ve got a condition that affects your memory, right? Well, I might be able to help with that.”

Peggy’s lips thinned, and she sent a displeased look at Steve.

“And how would you do that?” she asked. “There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, young man.”

“That’s true,” Gabriel agreed lightly, “at least, if you’re going at it from a human perspective. Fortunately, there are more things in heaven and earth, etcetera, and I’m one of them.” He leaned forward. “I promise, if this doesn’t work, if won’t do any harm. But there’s a strong chance that I can fix it.”

Peggy met his eyes for a long moment. Then she sighed, and sagged back against the pillow.

“Steve?” she asked quietly. “Do you trust this man?”

“With my life,” Steve said firmly. Peggy looked back at Gabriel.

“Very well,” she said briskly. “Best get it over and done with, then, before one of the nurses interrupts.”

“I can see why Steve likes you so much,” Gabriel remarked, taking up a position next to Peggy’s bed, and resting a hand over her forehead, reaching out with his Grace. What he found made him relax. While there was significant damage done to Peggy’s brain – today must be an unusually good day for her, from the looks of things – it was all easily reparable with Grace. Gabriel concentrated, and healed the damage, taking care to make sure that all of Peggy’s memories were restored. Almost as an afterthought, he made certain that Peggy would never be troubled by the condition again.

“There we go,” said Gabriel brightly, pulling his hand back. “How do you feel?”

“I feel…” Peggy blinked. “My head feels much clearer.” Her gaze turned wondering for a moment. The next moment, however, she pinned Gabriel with a look of suspicion, sharp and shrewd. “You’re not human, are you?”

“Nope.” Gabriel grinned at her. “But don’t tell anyone.” He mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key.

“Who else knows?” Peggy asked.

“The other Avengers,” said Steve. “ _Not_ SHIELD. We weren’t sure what they’d do with the information.”

“Hmm.” Peggy considered that. “I suppose I can understand your caution. Fine. I won’t tell anyone unless they specifically ask.”

“Thanks,” said Gabriel.

“They won’t think to ask, will they?” Steve asked Peggy.

She gave an undignified snort.

“I’m just an old woman with memory loss, Steve. Why would they talk to me?” Her expression was wry and knowing.

“Doesn’t anyone keep an eye on you?” Gabriel asked. “I mean, you _were_ the Director of a covert agency.”

“Oh, there’s a nice young woman who I believe reports in anything injudicious I happen to say, but that doesn’t happen often. She’s a good nurse, that one. Very competent. I suppose I should be grateful for that much, at least,” said Peggy.

Just then a nurse stuck her head through the doorway.

“Excuse me, but visiting hours are ending,” she said kindly. “If you could say your good byes…?”

“Oh, of course.” Steve got to his feet, and turned to look at Peggy. He dithered uncertainly for a moment, before bending to kiss Peggy on the cheek. He smiled at her, but his eyes were soft and sad. “Take care of yourself, Peggy.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said bluntly, with a faint smile. “I’m more worried about you, the way you go running into trouble. Gabriel, I expect you to look out for him.”

“When do I not?” Gabriel said with a smirk, rolling his eyes. “Sure. Consider him looked out for, Peggy. It was nice to meet you.”

Gabriel and Steve were shooed out by the nurse. They were in the hallway when a choked sob escaped Steve. Other sobs followed, and in only a fee seconds Steve was sobbing in earnest and trying to stop himself.

“Aw, Steve,” said Gabriel. Because he wasn’t totally heartless, he pulled the bigger man into a hug. Steve was stiff for a moment, then clung like a baby koala, sobbing into Gabriel’s hair.

Gabriel patted his back uncomfortably, and tried to make soothing noises.

Eventually this seemed to work, and Steve let him go, looking red-eyed and abashed.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just…” He sniffed a bit. “Seventy years, you know?”

“I get it, Steve,” said Gabriel. He’d seen his fair share of humans grow old and die. Some of them he’d even cared about.

“Yeah,” said Steve, wiping at his eyes with a carefully-ironed handkerchief that he pulled out of his pocket. “I guess you would.”

“So this is normally the part where I’d take you out and get you drunk, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t work on you,” said Gabriel. “What do you say we hit up a candy store instead?”

Steve shook his head, with a lopsided smile.

“Nothing stops you for long, does it?” he asked. “Sure. Let’s go to a candy store.”

“There’s this place in London with a chocolate fountain,” Gabriel suggested. “Why don’t we go there?”

“London?” Steve sounded surprised.

“Sure. Why not?” Gabriel shrugged. “Distance isn’t a problem for me, remember?”

Steve shook his head again.

“London,” he repeated, sounding like he couldn’t quite believe it. “Okay. Let’s go to London.”

* * *

London was fun.

Gabriel and Steve went to the store with the chocolate fountain and had a cup of melted chocolate each, and wandered around looking at the stores and seeing the sights.

Eventually it started to get dark, and Steve suggested that it was time for them to go home.

“Thanks for coming with me today,” Steve said quietly, once they were back in New York. “Healing Peggy. Taking me to London. All of that. You didn’t have to.”

Gabriel shrugged, because being thanked was still a novel enough experience for him that it made him feel uncomfortable at the same time as it pleased him.

“Hey, archangel here,” he said, aiming for a cheerful tone. “What am I going to do, just leave it go?”

“All the same,” said Steve. “Thanks.”

Gabriel smiled at him, and tried to ignore the warm feeling Steve's words gave him.


End file.
